Shawn from Backpacking Dad who has wonderfully witty stories to share not only about being a parent but also adventures in cooking.

Loralee of Loraleeslooneytunes fame for inspiring me to start this blog and give it a real go, as well as being just totally freaking awesome.

Heather from Mama-Is. I started reading her blog just after giving birth to Kairi. Her newest addition was born within a few days of Kairi. She writes a lot about being the kind of parent I want to be.

Erin the Queen of Spain whose blog has helped me discover my views on the way the world works. I also love the posts about her kids - her family is so relatable!

Heather and Whitney at Rookie Moms who have made it their mission to provide one fun activity per day for your growing child for the first year.

The Looney Bin's Erin whose quirky and fun posts always have me either laughing or at least agreeing with what she's got to say.

Rick, the New Moderate, who is working vigilantly to battle extremism in every extreme.

Violent Acres V who is always able to put things just the way I would say them if I removed the filter. LOL.

Rules of the Award:

Accept the award, post it on your blog together with the name of the person who has granted the award and his or her blog link. Pass the award to 15 other blogs that you have newly discovered. Remember to contact the bloggers to let them know they have been chosen for this award.

Tuesday, August 25, 2009

Hi guys. Sorry I have been MIA for a bit. I am still working on my story and I was planning on posting it as my next post, but I want to get this out first.

A fellow blogger, Loralee Choate of Loralee's Looney Tunes recently attended the BlogHer conference in Chicago. While there, she was invited to attend a small luncheon with White House Senior Adviser Valerie Jarrett to discuss the health care reform.

A very brief rundown of the situation is this: Loralee's husband Jonathan switched jobs/job titles/something along those lines and had to switch insurance because of it. In the middle of switching insurance Loralee became pregnant and somehow, by some stupid loophole in the system basically, they fell through the cracks and she became uninsurable. Everyone she turned to told her that her pregnancy was considered a pre-existing condition. And her pregnancy was extremely high-risk. So she had to deal with this extremely difficult pregnancy and the stress of that while also dealing with the stress of being uninsured. The saga begins here if you want to read more details about it (it's much more accurate as well as better written too, so I do suggest it.)

Okay. So with that said, Loralee was invited to speak with Valerie Jarrett. She told her story and also spoke of her husband who has much more conservative views on the issue of health care. Both of them have written blog posts that are being read by the White House. Loralee's is here. Jonathan's can be found here.

The two of them have also been invited to the White House (yes, actually invited to go to the freaking White House) to express their views and opinions, and they are bringing with them the words of their readers. So please, go read what the two of them have to say and post some comments. Give them your opinions. What do you want changed? What do you want to remain? What policies to you agree with/disagree with?

Wednesday, August 12, 2009

I have been doing some tinkering lately with photo editing. Mostly in the past I've just used programs like Google's Picasa, programs that you can have some fun with but are really pretty limited.

A few nights ago, a friend of mine turned me onto a program called GIMP. It's free and you can get it here. So far I've only tried doing some cutout and paste stuff and some color burst, but I can already see that it's going to be a fun ride once I really figure out how to get my hands dirty.

Tuesday, August 11, 2009

I have a story that I want to tell you but I am not ready. It is an extremely personal story. It's emotional and heavy. Carrying this story around for the past four years has been both a blessing and a burden. It has allowed me to reinvent myself but it has also kept me caged in.

I am going to begin working on my story. I don't know how or where to begin, but I will get it out and once it is done I will share it.

Until then, perhaps you too should ponder on your own reinvention. Shraddha over at The Self Love Project has got an interesting perspective on it. Go check her out.

Sunday, August 9, 2009

♫Oh, I love my little beanie, I love her oh so much. I love it when she squeezes me, I love it when we touch. Yes I love my little beanie. I love her little kisses. She's all I ever asked for and the answer to my wishes.♫